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Prayer for My Children
A parent's prayer for a child of any age, from the cot to the grown-up who no longer calls
Hannah prayed so hard for a child that the priest thought she was drunk, and once Samuel was born she went on praying for him. Job got up early to pray for his grown children in case they had sinned. The Bible takes for granted that parents worry, and that the worry can become prayer. This one works for a baby, a teenager, or an adult child who has drifted; change the details to fit yours.
The prayer
Lord, I bring you my children, the ones you gave me and the ones I never stop thinking about. You loved them before I did and you will love them after I am gone. You know what they are facing today better than they have told me.
Keep them safe in body and mind. Give them friends who do them good, teachers who see them, and the sense to walk away from what would harm them. Where they are struggling, at school, at work, in their own heads, be closer to them than the struggle. Where they have wandered from you or from me, do not let them go, and bring them home in your time.
And make me the parent they need rather than the one I planned to be. Give me patience when I am tired, the wisdom to know when to speak and when to keep quiet, and the humility to say sorry to a child. Help me to hand them over to you instead of holding them so tightly that I hurt them.
They are yours before they are mine. Keep them, Lord. Amen.
In one breath
Lord, keep my children safe, give them good friends and good sense, and stay close to them where I cannot. Make me the parent they need. Amen.
Verses to hold on to
For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
1 Samuel 1:27 was the verse of the day on May 28, 2024. See that day
How to pray it
- Pray for each child by name and for one specific thing in their week, not for all of them at once.
- Let small children hear you pray for them; it stays with them longer than most of what you say.
- When a grown child has cut contact, keep a fixed time to pray for them so the silence does not become yours too.
Make it your own
Say what you are living, in a few words, and receive this prayer written for your situation.
- Your words
- Your prayer
Questions
Other prayers
- Prayer for a Loved OneFor someone you love who is going through something you cannot fix for them
- Prayer for My MarriageTo strengthen a marriage that is going well, or to hold one that is going through a storm
- Prayer for AnxietyFor the mind that will not stop, at 3 a.m. or in the middle of the day
- Prayer When Faith Is WeakA prayer for the days when believing is hard and God feels far away
- Prayer for ForgivenessA prayer to ask God's forgiveness, and to find the strength to forgive someone else
- Prayer of ThanksgivingA prayer to thank God for what he has given, named one thing at a time
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